In option trading, traders holding option positions have inherent risks that they need to manage, which are sometimes referred to as ‘Greek’ risks because they are typically represented by letters of the Greek alphabet. A major risk factor in foreign exchange, equities and commodities markets options is commonly referred to as ‘Delta’. The Delta risk may be defined as a change in the present value of an option deriving from possible changes in the price of the underlying asset. In other words, Delta is the partial derivative of the option price to the underlying asset price or ‘Spot’.
A common way for traders to manage the Delta risk is to buy or sell a quantity of the underlying asset that hedges the options risk. For example, if a trader has an option on Eurodollar Spot, the trader may hedge the Delta risk of that option by buying or selling Euros per dollar.
A decision to buy or sell the underlying asset of the hedge may be made based on several factors. One such factor may be the Delta value that represents the level of exposure, which may be positive or negative. Another factor may be the Spot level of the underlying asset. A further factor may be the sensitivity of the Delta to a change in the price of the underlying asset price, which is commonly referred to as ‘Gamma’. Thus, Gamma is the second derivative of the present value per Spot and may be characterized, for example, as the Delta of the Delta.
Option traders may consider a strategy to handle this risk when covering, for example, two scenarios. For example, a trader may plan in advance what action to take if the Delta risk increases to a larger positive value, also referred to as a ‘long’ position, and/or what action to take if the Delta risk moves to a larger negative position of the risk, referred to as a ‘short’ position. Thus, the trader may consider what may likely happen if the Delta goes long or short beyond a certain level and whether to buy or sell a certain number of units of the underlying asset if either occurs.
For example, a trader holding an ordinary option on Eurodollars may decide in advance that when the Delta value reaches one million dollars, the trader will plan to sell one-half million dollars of the underlying asset to hedge the trade. However, defining, monitoring, visualizing, deciding and executing such a strategy by a trader on the trader's workstation, such as the trader's desktop, laptop, pad, or other computing device, may currently be problematic for the trader.
Another current problem in electronic trading, such as electronic option trading, is a lack of space on display screens of traders' workstations. For example, a trader may have one or more screens open at the same time, each of which may be fully populated to the extent of being cluttered and resulting in a serious lack of desktop space. That situation creates a lack of screen space that is a current problem for traders who are unable to receive all of the information or have access to all of the applications that they may need.
There is a present need for methods and systems for providing graphical user GUIs for displaying and manipulating visualizations of data that furnish, for example, improved, highly intuitive interfaces and at the same time provide efficiency in the use of display screen space in a way that allows users, such as traders, improved access to other information and applications on their workstation that is not possible with traditional interfaces.